Sunday, June 29, 2008

One of my most un-favorite things is remodeling. Living in an 80+ year old house it's inevitable that there will be some projects to undertake from time to time. I love the results of remodeling it's just the getting there part that I don't enjoy. Since I bought this house almost 10 years ago, I've made lots of cosmetic changes; painting a few rooms, new kitchen counter tops, flower beds, painting the outside of the house, etc. Here's the outside pre and post painting. The flower beds are MUCH more grown up now.

The time has come, after living here almost 10 years, to scrape the popcorn ceilings......aaaaaaahhhhh....doesn't that strike terror into your heart???

I had actually even started to scrape some of the ceilings (just the kitchen and master bath) about a year ago and just never got going again to finish the job. I got a few quotes on what it would cost to have someone come in and do the work (scraping the ceilings, retexturing, painting, and installing several lights/ fans). The prices were pretty steep for just the scraping. So now I have enlisted the help of my friend and fellow YaYa, Edwina. She's providing ceiling scraping labor in the form of her son (and my sorta-kinda-but-not-really boyfriend) and a friend of his. They are high school students and just a bit less expensive than the "professionals".To top it off, I have a leak in the roof that has created a gross mold spot in my master bathroom. Yuk!!!

Monica at work heard the prices I was quoted for the electrical work, and promptly called her husband (an electrician) to do a price comparison. He says he can give me a much better price.

Out in the backyard, I've decided to get rid of the pool. I had started taking apart the deck myself (can you believe it???) when Leigh, my fellow YaYa and next door neighbor called up asking what I planned to do with the wood. I really hadn't thought ahead that far, except that I wanted to get rid of it and would probably have to pay to have it hauled away. She said if she and her husband, Aaron, could have the wood, he would take it down for me!!! Hooray! I get out of the heavy labor, and save the cost of hauling it away. Here's the swamp and what's left of the deck:

So, as you can see, I've got a lot of projects about to get under way. Can't wait to see the final results.

More and more I learn that The Beatles had it right, I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends....

Saturday, June 28, 2008

One of my favorite things is paper crafting. I started maybe 5 years ago when my friend Debbie dragged me to a Stampin' Up party. I did not want any part of it. I knew I had no artistic or creative abilities and that I would be bored out of my mind.So I went to the party and loved it. I thought I was the most talented person on the planet to make (copy) Anne, our demo's, card. Since then my card making skills and tastes have evolved, and I do have to say my creations today look a bit better than when I started. (Though no where near as fabulous as many of the bloggers out there in the blog-o-sphere that I like to CASE).Recently, my friend Kimberly challenged some of us in our crafty/ card making group (the Art YaYas) to get to crafting. Last weekend we had a virtual party and made lots of cards. I loved it. It forced me to actually use some of the crafting supplies that I've been hoarding. Pig (that's what she told us to call her, really!) sent me all of her challenge creations as a birthday gift. Am I a lucky girl or what?

Enough about that. Here are a few of my creations.

I made this card combining two of our challenges. This was a color challenge to use soft sky, chocolate chip, close to cocoa, and vanilla. The other challenge was to use Paper Trey Ink's ( http://papertreyink.com/) new set called Guidelines---love this set! This challenge was to make a card with cupcakes. The dp is from PTI and the images are from Stampendous. This card was made using some beautiful dp from K and Company from their Wild Saffron collection. The monogram is done using the DIY monogram stamper from http://www.justritestampers.com/ . Kimberly gave me the monogram stamper with two fonts and the alphabets for my b-day. It is awesome!

Okay, you bloggers, you've finally convinced me to do it. It's official. I have now entered the 21st century and there's no turning back.

What will this blog be about? Well I'm sure you've noticed the snazzy title up there. I plan to write about my favorite things. Maybe a little about family, friends, paper crafting, travel and music, and who knows what else?